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Automatic Number Plate Recognition: Pedestrian Areas

Asked by Jayne KirkhamLabour (Co-op)Department for TransportTabled Answered 13 January 2025UIN 22834

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of enabling local authorities to apply to use ANPR to enforce designated pedestrian zones.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood

Moving traffic contraventions, including entry into a designated pedestrian zone, may be civilly enforced by designated local authorities using CCTV prescribed by regulations made under the Traffic Management Act 2004.

By using these cameras local authorities are able to capture not just the number plate and location, but the wider context, to establish whether a contravention has occurred.

In the Department’s view, ANPR technology could not in isolation provide the functionality needed for fair and effective civil enforcement.

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